A Thousand Miles From The Place I Was Born

NaBloPoMo #29/30 and Grace #5/6

This challenge should have been posted yesterday, but circumstances prevented me from getting to the computer. As a result, I’ve not only missed the Daring Bakers deadline, but (gasp!) totally blew the whole NaBloPoMo thing. I cannot tell you how disappointed I am about this. To screw up the daily posting thing with ONLY ONE DAY TO GO is paramount to arriving at the Taj Mahal only to discover that you forgot your camera. Doh!!

So this month’s challenge was a Caramel Cake with a Caramelized Butter Frosting. Oh, mama!! Sounds delicious, no? The recipe is courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon and was brought to the Daring Bakers forum by this month’s gracious hosts, Dolores of Culinary Curiosity, Alex (aka Brownie) of Blondie and Brownie, and Jenny of Foray Into Food. They were also assisted by Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go who provided gluten-free alternatives for the recipe.  One of my favorite flavors in the WORLD is caramel, so I was quite excited to make this recipe.  I decided that I would make the cake yesterday because we were having dinner with CCB’s parents last night, and I thought it would be lovely for us to bring dessert.  CCB’s dad is quite an accomplished cook and his mom is a skilled baker, so I decided that sharing the cake with them would be the true test of the recipe.

The first step was in making the caramel syrup.  Although I have read about this process many times, I had never performed it myself.  It was a little daunting, to be sure.  Keep in mind that I was about to serve this cake to MY FUTURE IN-LAWS.  It had to be perfect.  And I felt less than confident in my ability to make it perfect.  I followed the recipe to the letter, making sure to let the syrup caramelize to a “dark amber” color.  In my opinion, dark amber is the color of pure maple syrup, and the caramel syrup that resulted from taking it to this deep color was a tiny bit burnt.  I think I would have stopped at light amber, and if I ever make the cake again, that’s what I would do.  The syrup wasn’t as strong when mixed into the batter or the frosting, but it was just a tiny bit overcooked, I thought.  Here is the recipe for the caramel syrup:

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for “stopping” the caramelization process)

In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber. When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back. Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}  Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

Once I had prepared the caramel syrup and allowed it to cool, I began to mix up the cake batter.  It was then that I discovered that Tyler didn’t have a mixer of any sort, not even a hand mixer.  It was going to be a workout, because I was going to have to mix the whole thing by hand.  I really think a power mixer of some sort is crucial to the success of this recipe.  I don’t believe that I was able to cream the butter and sugar until it was “light and fluffy” and that may have led to the unfortunately dense cake that resulted.  The recipe for the Caramel cake:

CARAMEL CAKE

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup
2 eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.  Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.  Sift flour and baking powder.  Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}  Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.  Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.  Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

I baked the cake for the first 30 minutes, and then because I didn’t know how Tyler’s oven would bake, I only set the timer for an additional 10 minutes after I rotated the pan.  When I pulled it out, it was very brown and firm… completely overbaked.  So be sure to watch the times carefully.  I was able to salvage the cake by brushing some of the cooled caramel syrup over it while it was still warm.  The syrup soaked into the cake and made it softer and much more the texture I had hoped for.

After the cake had cooled, I prepared the Caramelized Butter Frosting.  Once again, I was faced with a technique that I had read a lot about but had never actually done… browned butter.  It was actually quite easy, except for the fact that I obsessively watched the butter, certain that it was getting too dark.  Tyler reminded me of a quote he heard once.  I can’t be certain, but I think it was Mario Batali who said that the reason restaurant food tastes different from what the home cook makes is because home cooks are afraid to let things cook long enough.  They stop short of really developing the deeper flavors in a dish because they are afraid of burning it.  With that in mind, I let the butter go to a nice nutty brown, and it made a delicious icing as a result.  I wish there had been a frosting with a little less sugar.  One pound of confectioners’ sugar for a one-layer cake is much too sugary, in my opinion.  The recipe for the Caramelized Butter Frosting is here:

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons unsalted butter 
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.  Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.  In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner’s sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner’s sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.  Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month. To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light.

The end result? The cake was too dense, a little too firm, and too sweet. The frosting was almost inedible, it was so sweet. I did top the cake with slices of apple that were sliced thin on the mandoline and dredged in lemon juice to prevent browning. The tartness of the apple did cut the sweetness of the cake and icing somewhat, but it still was very much too sweet. The adults at the meal ate a tiny amount of the cake, enough to appear gracious, really. The girls licked the sugary-sweet frosting off the cake and were in diabetic comas by the end of the evening. And I somehow survived (and actually enjoyed!) a dinner with Tyler’s family.

When we finally returned home and got the girls to bed, I was so exhausted that I could barely keep my eyes open.  Perhaps it was the fact that I had spent the past two days cooking almost non-stop (between the Thanksgiving dinner I prepared on Friday and the cake on Saturday), or perhaps it was an emotional release after being so nervous about the dinner with Tyler’s family.  The night ended up far more lovely and cheerful than we had both anticipated, and as a result, I think my exhaustion was the equivalent of a huge psychological “PHEW!!!”  Needless to say, when the girls finally got into bed, Tyler and I collapsed as well.  It wasn’t until this morning that I remembered that I hadn’t posted.  I hope the lovely ladies at the Daring Bakers will forgive my lapse and will include me in next month’s blogroll.  And as for NaBloPoMo, there’s still the prize for the losers, right??

My Grace for today:

1.  Unconditional love.  No matter how undeserving you feel.

2.  The power of forgiveness and healing.

3.  The security that comes with trust and respect.

4.  Cooking in the kitchen with the man that I love.

5.  Good food, good company and laughter around the dinner table.